Ford, Nissan, Chevy: Charging into the EV Era?

Or is it more like slouching towards Bethlehem? But no matter their speed or range, a battery of all-electric vehicles are coming soon to a charging station or electric outlet near you.

Not only is the gas-free option arriving, there are some interesting and attractive choices hitting the road.

The all-electric Nissan Leaf will make its market debut this year as will the Chevy Volt. Meanwhile, the Ford Focus EV is slated to roll late next year and BMW reportedly is working on a small electric car that might launch in 2012.

“It seems that the era of the electric vehicle is finally upon us,” says Esurance in a recent blog post on the “Top 5.1 Things You Don’t Know About the Electric Car (But Should).”

The article itself is fairly basic on how EVs work, their costs, range and savings. For example, if you’re not shopping for the Tesla Roadster at $110,000 per unit the coming crop of EVs will sell for about $28,000 to $35,000 making them affordable for most. And that’s before the $7,500 federal tax credit that’s available if an EV is purchased before the end of 2011. Additional credits are available depending on the state and urban areas where you reside.

The range discussion for EVs has been thoroughly flogged, but let’s face it, these are urban/suburban-type vehicles. Their range on a single charge is about 100 miles. For the vast majority of drivers that’s plenty; if you’re motoring more than 100 miles every day or driving cross-country on a regular basis, then EVs are not for you (and Big Oil is thanking you profusely). But for trips to the supermarket or soccer practice they are perfect at about a charging-cost equivalent of 75 cents a gallon.

In addition to the huge fuel cost savings over the life of an EV, they are 100 percent emission-free and 97 percent cleaner than gas-powered vehicles, according to Esurance. Isn’t that the main point?

Even Motor Trend, a bastion for high-horsepower, tire-squealing internal combustion engine lovers, is taking notice of the EV. Its October issue has a highly laudatory four-page spread that’s really charged up about the Leaf. “This is a real watershed moment,” the article begins. “Rarely in autodom does a ‘new car’ like the 2011 Nissan Leaf come along that makes us stop and think about our current mode of transportation. By new, we don’t just mean the successor to a current model. We mean brand new as in a totally new – and silent – way of thinking about getting from point A to B.”

The made-in-America Leaf is a five-seat, five-door car that’s the first purpose-built, mass-produced all-electric car. It meets all highway safety regulations.

Its launch, Motor Trend continues, “Could very well serve as a defining moment in automotive history, a keystone toward building a no-emissions future.”

Time to get in on history? I’m in, especially after viewing Nissan’s fantastic polar bear Leaf ad.

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The EVs might be a GAME-CHANGER that could siphon oil money spill into funding for the fourth wave of smart grid & renewable energy boom.

In this regard, the proposed legislation by the Electrification Coalition (EC) needs to be embraced ASAP. And National Poll Shows Strong Bipartisan Support for Plan to Expand Electric Vehicles.

http://www.beattycommunications.com Eckhart Beatty

Way to go Motor Trend. Time to make much-deserved room for true muscle as we enter the dawn of the new EV generation. I predict MT, et. al. will continue to cover green motoring more (and steadily more favorably) into the near future.

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